YEAR 5 TRIP TO THE BRITISH MUSEUM

Joint History and Latin Trip on Wednesday 18 May 2016

Year 5 visited the British Museum for a joint History and Latin trip. In the morning they explored the Prehistory galleries in Rooms 50 and 51 to reinforce their studies of the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age. Trying to discover the purpose of some Neolithic mystery objects was a particular highlight! There was also time to look at some examples of cuneiform writing in the Babylonian gallery, which the boys were fascinated by, having made their own cuneiform writing tablets in class when they studied Mesopotamia. After lunch and the requisite visit to the shop, it was time for the Latin aspect of the trip. The boys thoroughly enjoyed the Roman Britain displays in Room 49 where they could see so many examples of artefacts linked to the Minimus Latin text book studied throughout Years 4 and 5. The highlights here were the intricately carved tombstone of Regina, recently studied in chapter 11, and the famous Vindolanda writing tablets, the oldest handwritten documents found in Britain. They were especially excited to discover that the birthday party invitation studied in chapter 1 is the oldest Latin document handwritten by a woman to be discovered anywhere in the world!